"What Are You Doing When No One Is Looking?"
"I'm going to do today what other people aren't willing to, so I can do tomorrow what other people can't" - Mat Fraser, 2016, 2017 Crossfit Games Champion
I was never a terribly good student in middle school. I'd do OK, my teachers and parents were always satisfied, but I was never 'good'.
You see, I hated losing. As long as I wasn't bundled amongst the 'poor students' crowd, I had won.
Try as I might, I could never became a model student.
Until one day I did.
Just like that.
You see, I hated losing, but I never loved winning.
Fear drives you when you do something because you'd rather not be last. And fear as an emotion is universal: you think you're special if you didn't fail/come last?
Courage drives you when you do something because you'd rather be first. And courage is most certainly not universal: the willingness to suffer and persevere without a guaranteed reward does not come naturally. Hard work pays off, eventually. Trusting it and having faith in yourself isn't easy. If it was, then why doesn't everyone do it?
The day I decided I truly wanted to be a model student, I started working hard, and trusting that it would get me to where I wanted to be.
It's all mental, this courage thing. Change happens first in your head.
Start with understanding why you want what you want, use it to define a goal and come up with a plan and a timeline to achieve it.
The days/events that make you or break you often seem insignificant, with no one to rely on besides for your own self. This is where having a plan and the courage to stick to it are critical.
If you aren't where you want to be, just truthfully answer this one small question: "What are you doing when no one is looking?"
